譯/王麗娟
Nikita I. Zakharov leads the fan club for the soccer team in this leafy, slow-paced provincial city, and yet he keeps a cleareyed view of its place in the wider world of soccer.
"We cannot really boast of soccer success," he said mournfully. The team, Baltika, plays in a second-tier Russian league. In its 64-year history, it has won the championship once — in 1995, "the golden year!" exclaimed Zakharov — and came in second twice, in 1959 and 1961.
加里寧格勒是個綠意盎然、步調緩慢的省轄市，尼基塔．札哈洛夫帶領這個城市足球隊的粉絲俱樂部，不過，對於這座城市在更廣大足球世界裡的地位，他也心知肚明。
他哀怨地說：「我們無法真的誇口說我們的足球隊戰果輝煌。」「波羅的海」這支隊伍，是俄羅斯乙級聯賽的球隊。成軍64年來只在1995年得過一次總冠軍，札卡洛夫高喊：「黃金年。」另外曾在1959和1961年兩度贏得亞軍。
Its biggest win, it turns out, was not so much on the field as with a field. Rising out of a formerly undeveloped swampy area in the city, a gigantic, glistening $280 million stadium appeared this year, one of six new arenas Russia built for the World Cup.
It is a bumper crop of new stadiums that, even by World Cup standards, appear out of proportion with the small crowds drawn by local teams like Baltika, which will use the venues after the tournament.
事實證明，這支球隊的最大勝利不是足球場上的戰績，而是球場本身。這座城市原本未開發的沼澤地區，今年出現了一座耗資2.8億美元，巨大、亮眼的體育場，是俄羅斯為世界杯足球賽打造的六座新球場之一。
興建新球場的手筆即使就迎接世界杯而言也算是很大的，而且與「波羅的海」之類地方球隊所能吸引的有限觀眾顯得不成比例。在世界杯大賽後，這些場館將供這些地方球隊使用。
Their construction, at a cumulative cost estimated at $11 billion along with related infrastructure, illustrates how sports, as with the oil and mining businesses, has become integral to how the Kremlin and Russia's ultra-wealthy financiers, known as the oligarchs, do business together.
World Cup stadiums became a means to reward well-connected businessmen, said Ilya Shumanov, deputy director of the anti-corruption group Transparency International.
"Authoritarian regimes love megasports projects," Shumanov said. "Huge sums are distributed from the budget. It's bread and circuses at the same time."
這些場館的興建，連同相關基礎設施，累計成本估計為110億美元。這些建設說明，和石油、採礦業一樣，運動已成為克里姆林宮和俄羅斯超級富豪金融家，亦即所謂的寡頭富豪，共同做生意的一部分。
反貪腐組織「國際透明」的副主任伊利亞．舒馬諾夫說，世界杯場館成為酬庸人脈豐厚商人的一種手段。
舒馬諾夫說：「威權政體喜歡大型運動興建計畫。巨額的資金從預算而來。它同時也可用來籠絡人心。」
The lucrative deal in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave between Lithuania and Poland, went to the company of Aras Agalarov, who is one of Russia's wealthiest men. Agalarov also had a commercial relationship with Donald Trump, having partnered with him in 2013 to host the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow.
"The Agalarovs are very well connected, in Azerbaijan, in Russia and in the United States," Shumanov said.
加里寧格勒州是介於立陶宛和波蘭之間的俄羅斯飛地，加里寧格勒這筆利潤豐厚的交易，最後落到俄國首富之一阿拉斯．艾加拉洛夫公司的頭上。艾加拉洛夫與唐納德．川普有商業關係，2013年曾與川普聯手在莫斯科舉辦環球小姐選美大會。
舒馬諾夫說：「艾加拉洛夫家族人脈極佳，在亞塞拜然、俄羅斯和美國都是如此。」
The stadium in Kaliningrad is among those that went to cities with no top-tier soccer team. In one instance, a stadium with 45,000 seats went up in Saransk, a city with a population of 297,000.
The designs of the new stadiums nod to local pride. In Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg, both port towns, the stadiums' look hints at ships. Mastlike towers suspend the roofs. The flying-saucer-shaped Cosmos Arena appeared in Samara, a center of the space industry.
Kaliningrad's residents have been scratching their heads over what to do with the stadium when the World Cup is over.
加里寧格勒是並無甲級聯賽足球隊，卻興建了新館場的城市之一。另一例是人口僅29萬7000人的薩蘭斯克市，新建一座有4萬5000座位的體育場。
新體育場在設計上無不向當地人的驕傲致敬。在加里寧格勒和聖彼得堡這兩個港市，體育場的外觀讓人聯想到船隻。類似船桅的塔架懸吊在屋頂上。飛碟形狀的「宇宙競技場」則出現在太空工業中心城市薩馬拉。
加里寧格勒居民一直在猛搔頭，不知世界杯落幕後該拿這座場館如何是好。
